Can't Bring Myself to Pull the Trigger (and it's not because I care)
by DeathRainbows
Summary: As Eggman holds Sonic trapped in the next room, he comes across old tapes of his and the hedgehog's early days. He contemplates just why he isn't ever able to finish the job. [Character and Relationship study: I got frustrated when people kept saying they should just kill each other and this is my attempt to explain why I think they can't]


You can't catch lightning in a bottle, just as you cannot hold the wind within your hand. Dr. Eggman had spent countless hours, months, years theorizing on just how that blasted hedgehog could always escape his ingenious traps and foil his schemes, yet even he had to admit that this was the best explanation he could come up with. It simply didn't make sense...but it did. The hedgehog was the living embodiment of Chaos while the Doctor was the embodiment of Order, machines, and code. One simply could not exist without the other, and so no matter the odds Sonic just couldn't stay down and let Order take over. What a boring world that would be!

Sonic the Hedgehog was ten when the Doctor had first laid eyes on him. An unassuming little ball of blue, speedy and lithe, yet somehow more than enough to destroy the robots he had spent hours building in a mere few seconds. Eggman had been younger, as his first meeting with the rodent had taken place during his infant days of villainy, but even back then he had been stumped as to how a mere hedgehog, no, a mere _child_, was able to defeat his robot swarms with little to no effort. After his first defeat, he had spent a year attempting to figure out just _how_ he was beaten, but no equation, no variable, no constant ever seemed to make sense. Yet somehow, against all odds, the little hedgehog brat had become a large thorn in his side. The pain caused by that thorn never seemed to ease, and with every defeat in every zone it seemed to become more and more unbearable.

Once, during his year-long break, he had stumbled upon "Little Planet", the home of the time stones, in a Mobian history book. The Time Stones could be very useful indeed… with more than just world conquest. He could erase the very fact that the hedgehog had even existed, and with that fact erased, every defeat that the hedgehog had ever caused would be gone as well With a smirk on his face, the Doctor began his exploration of the planet. Predictably, the hedgehog had shown up to stop him, but this time he was ready. During his little break, he had also begun construction on Metal Sonic, who would be in every way better than the original. Why, just the fact that Metal was built by the Doctor himself was enough to prove his superiority. After all, technology was always superior to the natural world (even if the natural world had been what created the original). Because Metal was inorganic, he had no pesky nerve endings to cause pain, no vulnerable organs, no blood, and best of all, no will, unlike that pesky rodent. No matter how many times the doctor knocked him down, he always got back up again with an even brighter fire in his eyes. Oh how he _detested_ that hedgehog. Metal was simply the best, because he took all of the hedgehog's best traits _and_ obeyed the Doctor's every command. If the Doctor had ever gotten the Roboticizer up and running, he would've done his utmost to put the hedgehog through it. It would have brought him endless satisfaction and joy to see the rebellious Sonic forced to obey him and destroy the very land and creatures he loved so dearly.

One time, one of his underlings had asked him why he was so obsessed with the hedgehog. Although that subordinate was instantly scrapped, it caused him to think. Why _was_ he so obsessed with the blue nuisance? Was it perhaps...Jealousy? Was the Doctor…. _jealous_ of the hedgehog? No, he decided. He was only (reluctantly) impressed by his abilities. If he had the chance, he would like to dissect the rodent and figure out what made him tick. How were his legs able to withstand his speed? How was he able to see while moving at the speed of sound? What caused his unusual durability? ...How much Chaos did he have in him? In this strange world called Mobius, as far as the Doctor understood, Chaos was of paramount importance. Chaos energy was the deciding factor in how this world operated. If the hedgehog was more chaotically inclined, then it would answer many of the doctors questions. Ah, if only he had been able to study and experiment on the hedgehog, he surely would have been able to harness his endless energy into a much more useful purpose, like powering his factories. What a waste.

Metal Sonic had been turned into scrap metal, much to the Doctor's chargain, and the relentless hedgehog took the Time Stones out from right under his nose, _and_ he freed the little girl. The brat somehow made it off of Little Planet unharmed, while the Doctor had received countless bruises and burns with nothing to show for it. He had trudged back to one of his bases before letting out a scream of frustration and trashing the place. He overthrew tables, broke Badniks, tore up blueprints, and finally sunk into his chair in defeat. Just what was so special about the damn hedgehog that he always won in the end? Even his perfect creation, which should have been more than a match, was obliterated by the Doctor's own white-hpt laser after the spiky pest outran him in a footrace. To add insult to injury, the hedgehog, after escaping unscathed, had thrown a rock with _the perfect trajectory_, causing the Doctor's escape vehicle to malfunction and explode. The Doctor sighed and steepled his fingers, studying footage of the fleet-footed hedgehog as he destroyed the Doctor's creations. He took notes, made graphs, schematics, you name it, but he was still unable to come up with an answer as to how the hedgehog defeated him. Everything would go perfectly, and then suddenly, **BAM**, a blue blur would tear across his screens turning the Doctor's hard work into nothing more than fancy explosions. Gritting his teeth, the Doctor got to work on his next project. The Time Stones would be nothing more than pretty rocks compared to his next conquest: The Chaos Emeralds.

Doctor Eggman, or Robotnik, as he was known in those days, decided the only balm for the wounds caused by the thorn in his side would be a victory so great that it would crush the little speed-demon's spirit. So, he turned his sights on Westside Island, and with them, the mystical and immensely powerful gems. The hedgehog had thoroughly beaten him on South Island and Little Planet, but Robotnik was going to make sure this time was different. But as he sent the metallic swarms out across the island, news of his attack must have gotten back to the little hedgehog, who arrived from over the ocean in a red biplane. Robotnik had chuckled when the security footage had shown the pest, and ordered the plane be shot down. The aim of his turrets had been true, and the biplane went down in a swirl of smoke and fire. But Robotnik wasn't satisfied, as he hadn't been able to see the hedgehog himself get blasted to smithereens. Although he had only just begun this rivalry, he didn't want to be made a fool of for assuming the best-case scenario when the hedgehog had already defied his expectations so many times. Thus, he boarded his Egg-Mobile and set off to destroy the nuisance, and hopefully end this little game once and for all.

Unfortunately, the hedgehog had made a friend. A small little fox, with mutated tails, who was also a genius to boot. _Of course_. With ease the two destroyed all of his robots and all of the bigger machines he himself piloted, and _also_ collected the blasted Chaos Emeralds that were his whole reason for coming to this sickeningly bright Island. But… Robotnik still had his ace in the hole. His masterpiece, his Mona Lisa, his **Death Egg**. He had spent most of his life planning this. There was absolutely no way that the blasted hedgehog could beat him up here, in space. Even if the hedgehog managed to get onboard, he had recently perfected the Death Egg Robot _and_ Silver Sonic. It had seemed impossible that the hedgehog could beat him. He was invincible! But as Doctor Eggman looked back on that moment, he realized he had been quite foolish. Of course, he had to take into account everything that had happened since that battle, but even so, believing something like the Death Egg Robot would be the thing to defeat Sonic… quite foolish indeed.

The birth of Super Sonic came as a shock to both the hedgehog and the human. Robotnik had exited the Death Egg Robot, lowering himself to the ground to gloat at his foe, who it seemed was finally defeated. The Emeralds had emerged from the hedgehog's body without warning and had started to float gently around him as he lay beaten, bleeding red on the metallic catwalk. Robotnik had watched in fascination as the Emeralds rotated gently around the hedgehog's wounded form,, but when he tried to reach for one of the gems, his hand was scaled by energy that burned hotter than any fire he had ever worked with. Hissing, he had withdrawn his hand, calmly studying the third-degree burn, before turning his eyes back to the sight before him and watching with interest as the emeralds, one by one, reentered the body of the twelve year old hedgehog. It was at that moment a horrible screaming started up from the child, one that nearly broke Robotnik's calm facade. He himself had never managed to get a sound from the hedgehog, no matter how hard he hit him, but this noise… The screaming continued, and the hedgehog's body started to writhe on the catwalk. His limbs twisted every which way while his small hands continually closed into fists that were causing his fingers to carve bloody crescents into his palms. His legs thrashed wildly as he struggled to contain the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and his fur kept flashing between azure and bright gold. Robotnik watched near impassively, but if the hedgehog was able to open his eyes, even he would have seen a momentary flash of concern. Whether the concern was for the hedgehog or Robotnik himself would have remained a mystery.

The transformation continued, until all at once the terrible screeching stopped. It was dead silent. Not even the sounds of the child's labored breathing seemed to reach the ears of the Doctor, who was studying the golden form on the ground before him with great interest. Now this was something he would've liked to dissect. Then, a small hand twitched. The Doctor was shaken out of his contemplation rather quickly when he noticed the sign of life, and quickly reboarded the Death Egg Robot. As the golden hedgehog stood up and opened his now amber eyes, Robotnik ejected the Egg Mobile from the Death Egg Robot and hurriedly opened the hanger door into space. Although he hated leaving work unfinished, he knew if he stayed he probably wouldn't survive for another second. An explosion rocked the Egg Mobile from behind (probably Super Sonic wreaking havoc throughout his base) and Robotnik was absolutely sweating as he hurriedly steered his craft into space and back into the atmosphere. One look behind him showed that the now golden rodent was ripping his beautiful Death Egg into infinitesimal pieces. He groaned and glowered at the loss, but he knew he had to escape Super Sonic or risk death, which was infinitely worse than losing a piece of machinery, even one as incredible as the Death Egg.

From his vantage point, now within the atmosphere, he witnessed Super Sonic fall back down to Mobius, probably unconscious if his closed eyes were anything to go by. Robotnik watched with bated breath, hoping that the hedgehog would fall into the ocean, but no such luck. His foxy friend, piloting the biplane Robonik had shot down earlier, caught him on the wing. Robotnik growled in frustration, but turned to look back up to the sky as his Death Egg descended into the atmosphere. Following the course of its fall, his eyes landed on… a floating island? How strange. He turned his Egg Mobile to the site of the crash and was soon on his way, hoping that it would take the hedgehog longer to recover than usual.

And so it was that Robotnik met Knuckles the Echidna, protector of the Master Emerald. Now, Robotnik probably would have been intimidated by the Echidna's impressive strength if the red- furred creature wasn't so gullible. All he had to do was feed him a few lies about that blasted hedgehog and the echidna was off, taking care of his problem for him! Truly an idiot. Robotnik quickly began his takeover of the island, sending Badniks everywhere he could, hoping to further slow down his nemesis. Unfortunately, it appeared that the hedgehog had beaten every one of the echidna's traps with ease, and Robotnik cursed his luck that the very moment he finds the Master Emerald is the same moment the hedgehog does. To further complicate matters, the echidna had found out about his ruse and was now attempting to stop him as well. Robotnik shook off both of his pursuers (electrocution always worked) and was attempting to get back to the Death Egg, which he had been busy rebuilding while his robots took over the island, when he passed by a strange mural. In fact, the mural was so strange, he fully stopped his Egg Mobile and turned to study it. It depicted… Robotnik squinted. No, that couldn't possibly be him and hedgehog, could it? It was impossible. The echidna… his tribe held many mysteries.

Robotnik shook his head and continued on, attempting to dismiss the clearly ancient mural… Though, his spirit was heartened by one thing: The mural didn't show who won in the struggle over the Master Emerald. He smirked as the Death Egg came into sight, ready to launch. Now would be his final battle with the hedgehog, and it was sure to end in his victory.

* * *

The sound of struggle from the next room drew Eggman's attention, and he looked to the monitor playing current video feed. The hedgehog was struggling within his bonds, grunting in exertion, but remained immobile. The Doctor chuckled, but there was no mirth to it. The same song and dance, over and over again. As he watched and studied all of the years-old security footage playing on the monitors around him, a contemplative mood fell over him. Remembering everything that had happened between him and Sonic… it left an odd trace of nostalgia in his mind. The hedgehog was trapped in the next room over, but he wouldn't be for long. Now would be the perfect chance to end their years-long struggle, settle things once and for all… but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not yet, anyway, he told himself.

Eggman sighed as he studied the footage from the second launch of the Death Egg. He had been so close that time… but not even the Great Eggman Robo was enough to defeat Hyper Sonic. The transformation that time hadn't been quite so tough on Sonic, but it had resulted in the complete obliteration of the Death Egg. Over the years, Eggman had come close to victory countless times, but Sonic always saved the day at the eleventh hour. Now the hedgehog was fifteen. Their war had gone on for five years, and neither were any closer to winning. Eggman would always come back as long as there was something to conquer, and Sonic would always defeat him. The hedgehog truly was weak. Not in the traditional sense, no, not at all. But in the ways that mattered. He was unable to witness death without feeling guilt, and he was unable to kill Eggman, even though that would have put an end to the world's problems. His heart was much too pure for any of the ending-lives business, which was something Eggman had always hated. Sonic could break your spirit though, without him even realizing it, something Eggman further loathed. After all these defeats, Eggman was truly contemplating the benefits of retiring (just for a while, of course). The hedgehog truly believed he could make the Doctor give up building robots to conquer the world, even after everything Eggman had done to try and prove otherwise. He saw the good in everyone, and he was a hero. Eggman shook his head. He would never have contemplated giving up in any way all those years ago, but now… perhaps the hedgehog had reached him, created a small chink in his armor of indifference for the pain he created everywhere he went. The Doctor was still quite a selfish man, but now… if he were to give himself a year off from tyranny, he surely wouldn't complain.

In a way, Eggman supposed Sonic becoming such a hero was his fault. Without him, the hedgehog surely wouldn't have known what to do with his gift of super speed. In that way, they complemented each other, gave each other a purpose. After all, if Eggman had been able to easily conquer the world back then, what would he be doing now? Sitting around, bored out of his mind? What was the point after you had won? Sonic had given him purpose and drive to keep improving with his machines and genius, just as he gave the hedgehog purpose and drive to keep honing his abilities and speed. Without each other, they wouldn't have a challenge, or any reason to get better. As annoying as the hedgehog was, Eggman had grown a strange sort of soft spot for him. Well, he would still take any chance to humiliate Sonic, and he would do everything he could to knock that cocky smirk off his face and break his spirit, but at this point… he wasn't sure what he would do if he actually killed Sonic. None of the hedgehog's friends had the same fire of rebellion (though he was sure Knuckles and Shadow would be able kill him effortlessly). No one else ignited the spark of genius in the Doctor, just annoyance or fear. Only his age-old nemesis could drive him to improve his machines so much, could drive him to use all three hundred of his IQ points. So, Eggman supposed as he glanced down at the button on the control panel, that was why he just couldn't find it in him to kill Sonic. There was simply no one else who could oppose him the same way.

A loud yell from the next room, along with the groan of snapping metal, caused him to smirk. He knew Sonic would quickly escape, but he had built an even bigger and better robot to defeat him this time. As he settled into the Egg Watchdog, which blocked the exit of the lair, he allowed himself a small chuckle. Even if he couldn't bring himself to kill Sonic purposefully, any chance to lay a beat down on the pesky rodent was always welcome.

"Aw, Eggy, you shouldn't have!" The hedgehog joked.

"Trust me Sonic, you're going wish I didn't." Eggman said, before he punched the button that would activate the giant mech.

Eggman wasn't sure how this battle would end, but he couldn't find it in himself to be upset either way. A vacation sounded pretty nice anyway.


End file.
